Myths and Facts about Hydrogen Hazards

The anticipated entrance to the hydrogen economy has raised many concerns as regards its safe production, transport, storage and use, not excluding environmental concerns. Although it is true that hydrogen has been safely used for many decades, this has occurred until now in activities mainly in the chemical industry, where skilful and highly trained personnel are engaged. Yet, no one is certain what would happen when a layman handles a potentially hazardous material such as liquid hydrogen to refuel our cars. Such thoughts are sustained by the fact that there is still a significant shortage of knowledge on hazardous properties of hydrogen. Scepticism is also emerging on the environmental effects of large hydrogen leaks when hydrogen will be extensively used worldwide. This paper is a contribution to knowledge of hazardous properties of hydrogen and aims at offering a comprehensive overview on safety issues of this new energy carrier. It is shown that hydrogen safety concerns are not normally more severe, but they are simply different than those we are accustomed to with gasoline or natural gas.